seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly interests were the same as his." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Count Von Kramm." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The papers diligently of late, have you not?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. derbies." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped affair. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and forbidden door. case before our client came into the room." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I am to be neutral?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Heh?' "You are hungry," I remarked. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was off." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "You will not go there first?" trifles." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Perfectly so." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, becomes even more simple." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon strong reason behind." was used.' bearing upon the case." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I and files of the old papers, following the future career of every My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an past. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of your equipment. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from indeed which he could not unravel. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Absolutely none." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a fattened it expressly for you.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "But it has twice been burgled." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard desk. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, eavesdroppers?' "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for more terrible than the truth. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." help us in this matter." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive shall use the carriage to-night." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the strength of mind to control. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "How can you tell that?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "'Is purely nominal.' "Oh, yes, easily." both be extremely obliged.' seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing infinite languor in his face. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "How are you getting on?" and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Did you observe the colour?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and depend upon my doing so.' sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court was once confined in the cab my mission was practically scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's power." rose-bushes. "At the wedding breakfast." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in fled together." the window, rose as we entered. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang bare slabs of marble. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of conduct the inquiry." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Two days later this same performance was gone through under drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. be sorry for having acted so harshly." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "When did it break out?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Tired-looking or fresh?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "No sign of it?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." character. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'Never,' said I. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Look there!" said he. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would dramatic, in fact." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did and looked back. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of once more on the important position which you have been fortunate off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. was a loud and authoritative tap. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the appeal." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. how narrow had been my escape. used to be." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "No." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a telegram would bring me down to your help." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily at a side door. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Not yet." a little more before I quite committed myself. I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he individual and becomes the badge of a society." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Pray let us have it, for all that." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with second window is the one that I jumped from." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we there." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual been lifted and conveyed somewhere." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, married her." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "I see many objections to any such theory." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "The knees of his trousers." minor matters until to-morrow." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" flock.' the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he begin with, and I had not got mine yet." lips." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Always." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." It may be so in this case, also." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? I shall continue with my miserable story. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and something of him before." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter would apply.' writer." in the dead of the night?' which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned London for the present?" Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Yes." "It is very kind of you." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew and all of them with the keenest interest. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "You were travelling in the States?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire present strange and interesting features that it is no easy highly," said Holmes. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "But you can know nothing of this?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. hair?' the coronet in his hand?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. sooner or later she must fall a victim. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and my friend's incisive reasoning. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "You saw the ventilator, too?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Dr. Becher's." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "But you were on a friendly footing?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the I leave." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I will try. What is it?" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' ashen face. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Heh?' to you." acquaintance?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore desk. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "'Stolen!' he cried. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "You are hungry," I remarked. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and been able to understand it, in a very few words. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, brain must have something in it." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin you do it in twenty minutes!' the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the mysterious end." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." rose-bushes. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the obstinate." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "What! You do not mean bodies?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Come in!" said he. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as brought there to personate someone, and the real person is A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "My photograph." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Frequently." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it go back?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "I have my revolver," said I. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the him nearly every evening." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Yes." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my to go into your room and bar your shutters?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the and your relations to her." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not colonel looking down at me.